The defending champion was the last man out, and managed to demolish everyone else’s time, finishing eight seconds ahead of Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) despite the relatively short length (10.4km) of the stage.

Froome, Contador and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) are the favourites for the race and were the last three to finish today. At the intermediate time check halfway through, surprisingly it was Nibali who posted the quickest time, but he faded to finish eighth.

Contador then posted a new best time at the finish, before Froome – who sped up in the second half – defeated everyone.

Earlier, Bob Jungels (Trek) had led for most of day. He even passed his minute man to move ahead of Dutch duo Wilco Kelderman and Lars Boom (both Belkin) on the leaderboard.

He was pushed close by the likes of Jan Barta (NetApp) and Andrew Talansky (Garmin), and Britain’s Geraint Thomas (Sky) led at the intermediate time split, before fading in the second half of the course to ultimately finish 16th.

Jungels’ time held until the final two minutes, when first Contador then Froome, pushed him down into third.

Other impressive performances were produced by Tejay van Garderen (BMC), who finished ninth just thirteen seconds downs, and Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol), who appears to be recovering from his long-term fitness problems with a 17th place finish.

Sky’s Riche Porte may, however, be a little disappointed with his 23rd, 19 seconds down on teammate Froome.
Tomorrow is another potentially important day in the GC, as riders tackle the difficult Col du Beal.

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